Political scientist Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan, evaluating President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Athens after 6 years, said, “The statement from both country leaders that ‘there are no problems we cannot solve’ could be a hopeful development for the future.” Noting that there are two profound formations between Greece and Turkey, Prof. Dr. Arslan stated, “The first is deep national animosity, and the other is the still very strong common deep culture.”
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan: “Only Turkey and Greece together can achieve for the third time the unity that the Roman and Ottoman Empires accomplished twice in world history. Turkish and Greek children should now be able to smile at each other in a new Mediterranean union.”
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan, Head of the Political Science and International Relations (English) Department at Üsküdar Üniversitesi, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, evaluated President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's visit to Athens after 6 years.
Statement ‘there are no problems we cannot solve’ offers hope for the future
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan stated that this was the first official visit of the President of the Republic of Turkey to Greece since 2017, and said, “Can the relations between the two countries, which have sometimes been strained due to problems in the Aegean, Cyprus, and the Eastern Mediterranean, leading to military challenges on the ground, evolve into a win-win situation? The statement from both country leaders that ‘there are no problems we cannot solve’ could be a hopeful development for the future.”
Economic goals are doomed to collapse with the slightest political or military crisis
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan continued, stating that every sensible Turkish and Greek politician knows very well that if there is peace between the two countries, this peace will bring economic cooperation, which will significantly increase the prosperity of both countries:
“So, what prevents this? Economic cooperation councils aim to increase the trade volume of the two countries from five billion to ten billion dollars. However, such superficial goals are doomed to be shattered by the slightest political or military crisis. ”
Turkish and Greek peoples are not just any two neighbors…
Just as Turkey and Greece are not just any neighboring states, the Turkish and Greek peoples are not just any two neighbors. Both peoples are the remnants of two great empires: the Eastern Roman and Ottoman Empires. As Greek Professor Dimitris Kitsikis very well stated in his works, for us, the 1821 Morea Rebellion, or for the Greeks, the Greek War of Independence, was the beginning of the dissolution process of the central empire, which had continued in the region since the Eastern Roman Empire and was based on peoples living together, and also the beginning of Western imperialism taking over the region.”
Atatürk and Venizelos had initiated a great friendship
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan pointed out that since its establishment, Greece has been a national state founded by the West and always controlled by the West, saying, “Helen, the beautiful daughter of the Ottoman family, left her father's home and eloped with a stranger, incited by young men from distant lands. This separation movement, which began in 1821, continued with various wars known to everyone until 1923. Atatürk and Venizelos saw through the game of Western imperialism, which was the architect of the separation, and initiated a great friendship. If this peace had continued, it might have even led to some kind of confederation. However, the conspiracies that began with both countries joining NATO succeeded in pitting the two peoples against each other again in Cyprus, causing bloodshed once more.”
There are two profound formations between Greece and Turkey
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan noted that there are two profound formations between Greece and Turkey, and stated the following:
“The first is deep national animosity, and the other is the still very strong common deep culture. The deep national animosity that began in 1821 with rebellions and wars has always been fueled by religious fanaticism, racist fascist movements, and extreme nationalism. Unfortunately, this animosity is deeper among Greeks than among us. The reason for this is that the Greek national education system has systematically instilled Turkish hostility in generations for 200 years. In Turkey, although Greek hostility is not a state policy, it has been constantly cultivated by nationalist circles after the War of Independence and the Cyprus events.
For a true peace to be established between the two countries, ‘deep national animosity’ must be minimized and, if possible, eliminated, and ‘deep common culture’ must be revived. For this, if both countries can demonstrate political will, it is possible to create two neighboring peoples who are connected by emotional bonds rather than suspicion, within one generation, roughly 25 years, through common national policies. What needs to be done is for both countries to mutually remove hostile passages from their textbooks and history books, and for a joint history commission to rewrite the wars. If a real and lasting peace is established between the two homelands, the Cyprus issue will cease to be a problem…”
Almost half of the Greek population is of Anatolian origin
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan stated that almost half of the Greek population today is of Anatolian origin, and said, “Some of them are pure Orthodox Turks who were migrated from Anatolia through the population exchange. This also includes a real biological kinship. In fact, these two great peoples are the founding and ruling peoples of two great empires that governed the Mediterranean for thousands of years. That is why Turks and Greeks cook the same food, weep and rejoice with the same music, and maintain similar traditions at their weddings and funerals despite religious differences. While we compose with ancient Greek modes, they play the Central Asian Bozuk saz, calling it bouzouki.”
Turkey supported the starving Greek people with food aid during World War II
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan also noted that the strong common deep culture between the two countries immediately manifests itself in times of disaster, continuing as follows:
“During World War II, Turkey supported the starving Greek people with food aid at a time when bread was rationed. While material aid is certainly provided by even the most distant countries during disasters, sharing the pain emotionally from the heart is only possible between countries that share a common deep culture. In the recent earthquake disaster we experienced, we also received aid from many countries around the world. Excluding Azerbaijan, which is a part of our nation, the fact that the Greek State Television ERT showed earthquake footage during its main news segment on the evening of the disaster, accompanied by a very meaningful Turkish folk song saying ‘I would not trade my love for you for anything in the world,’ was nothing other than a manifestation of the common deep culture in social psychology. Every country could send aid, but not every country would play a Turkish folk song on state television, and even if they did, they couldn't listen to it or feel the same melody in their hearts.”
Revitalization of the common deep culture
Prof. Dr. Havva Kök Arslan also said the following regarding the revitalization of the two countries' common deep culture:
“If the games of global imperialism are disrupted and Greece can pursue an independent foreign policy, and as a result, the two countries can jointly and fraternally share the energy resources in the Aegean and the Mediterranean, and if this goes hand in hand with the revitalization of the common deep culture, then in the not-so-distant future, beautiful Helen will return to her father's home and become the daughter of Troy again. True ENOSIS will not be possible through the Turkification or Hellenization of the region, but rather through a similar formation to the EU, with the two peoples within their existing national borders, perhaps including other Eastern Mediterranean peoples in the future. Only Turkey and Greece together can achieve for the third time this unity that the Roman and Ottoman Empires accomplished twice in world history.
Turkish and Greek children should now be able to smile at each other in a new Mediterranean union.
“Perhaps a movie comes to town
A beautiful forest appears in the writings
The climate changes, it becomes Mediterranean, smile…”